


Crownguard

by acoldhand



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alcohol, Drunk Soren, Family Drama, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Magefam, Pre-Canon, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23924650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acoldhand/pseuds/acoldhand
Summary: Soren becomes a Crownguard (and celebrates a little too hard).
Relationships: Claudia & Soren & Viren (The Dragon Prince), Claudia & Soren (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 23





	Crownguard

Claudia sighed and reread the line of the novel for the 5th time finally absorbing it - only for her mind to drift off again by the second paragraph. She winced in frustration and tore her gaze away from the book to the candle gently flickering at her desk, then to the window of her room.

"Where is he..." She muttered under her breath before getting up to peer out of the window. In the darkness the courtyard of the castle was still and empty. Earlier that day it had been the site of Soren's Crownguard ceremony where he was honored by the King himself. At sixteen Soren had joined the calvary, and her brother was so remarkable that by eighteen he had become the youngest Crownguard in history. Claudia was so proud she even teared up a little which made her father groan exasperated before telling her to calm down. But Claudia didn't care, she knew how much Soren needed the validation of this achievement and she was glad that now all of Katolis knew what an amazing big brother she had. She wanted to spend the rest of the day showering him with praise and attention and any wild amount of pancakes he wanted, but when the ceremony concluded he had told her his soldier buddies had a night planned for him. That was fine, she supposed.

Only now it was several hours past sundown and he still hadn't come home. What could he be doing? Claudia tried not to think about it but it was impossible, it was late and she had officially switched into worry mode. The boys wouldn't take her brother anywhere... _uncouth_ , would they? Her mind was suddenly flooded with thoughts of sleazy older men making a joke out of corrupting her sweet innocent big brother. Her chair screeched loudly across the floor as she stood abruptly. _That's it_ , she thought, _I'm going to go get him._

She carefully cracked open her door and slowly shut it behind her so as to not make a sound. She wasn't sure where her father was at the moment but she certainly didn't want to alert him to her going out. She moved carefully through the corridors and opted for using a lesser known exit through the castle kitchen that was, as usual, empty around this hour.

Once outside she relaxed a little and walked quickly to the courtyard, then in the direction she had last seen Soren go with the rest of his brigade. As her footsteps echoed through the empty streets it occurred to her how she was walking aimlessly in the middle of the night on a whim and had no idea where she was going. She paused and ground her feet to the floor in frustration. Why couldn't he have celebrated with his family? Is this what things were going to be like now? Her thoughts were starting to spin so she shook her head and took a deep breath.

"There is no synonym for cinnamon. There is no synonym for cinnamon. _There is no synonym for cinnamon._ Okay."

With her mind cleared she started to think about how to go about this more effectively. Was there a spell she could use? No, there's no reason to be that extreme. Besides she would have to go back to the castle as she had left her bag there. He probably didn't go very far - so where around here would people hang around at this hour? Claudia knew it could only be a pub or... _unmentionable_ places. She decided to try the nearest pub first.

She could hear raucous and singing as she drew closer. As she neared the entrance, stepping over passed out drunkards, she could hear chants of "Drink! Drink! Drink!" Feeling confident once she saw men in Crownguard armor once entering, she was surprised to see the source of the chants were coming from a crowd of guards egging on Soren who was chugging from a Moonstrider horn. Claudia crossed her arms irritated watching the scene unfold, the crowd erupting into applause and laughter as Soren lifted the horn from his lips - shaking the last few drops of it onto his tongue. When he moved the horn from his face his sister was immediately within view.

"Claudia?" Soren said questioningly, his speech a bit slurred.

"Wuh-oh, looks like your mom's here to pick you up!" Remarked one of the men. Claudia shot him a cold look and he, along with all the other snickering men, immediately shrank away. They knew what the mage was capable of doing to them and did not want to be on her bad side.

"What'er you doin here, Clauds?" Soren asked seeming happy to see her and taking a few steps towards her but then stopping once almost losing his balance.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"N-No? Fuck. Is it late?" His tone shifted realizing she seemed angry.

Claudia scoffed, "I'm taking you home, come on." She said walking forward to grab his hand and drag him out of the pub, he came along without protest but he was quickly stumbling, "You can't even walk. What were you thinking getting this drunk?" She said putting his arm over her shoulder to support him.

"Sorreh, Clauds..." He apologized coyly looking away. It made Claudia feel just a bit guilty.

They walked in silence for a bit until Soren asked, "Are you mad at meh?"

"No, Soren, I'm not mad," she sighed, "I'm just... worried. You know Dad would kill you if he saw you like this." Viren had expectations that his children be composed, upstanding citizens at all times after all. Can't go degrading the family name by acting like any commoners or peasants. But Soren just sneered.

"I don't care if _he's_ mad. Screw him." he spat out.

Claudia was a bit shocked at that, "Sorsor... are you mad at Dad?"

Soren bit his lip and avoided eye contact, a face Claudia recognized as the one he would make when he was trying not to cry, "I- ... I did all this for him, I thought it would make him happy. Proud of me. But he... he doesn't even care!" A few tears spilled forward despite his efforts.

Claudia stopped walking and immediately closed the distance between them, holding his face and swiping at his tears with her thumbs, "Hey, hey. Soren, why do you think that? You know that's not true."

"It _is_ true. You were there, Claudia. He barely said anything to me."

It was true that once the ceremony had concluded, it was Claudia who had done most of the talking and congratulations while their father stood in silence. Viren had said something about expecting to see more of him now that he would be working with the King, and excused himself to talk with Harrow shortly after. Claudia did note the slight change in Soren's demeanor after that, but didn't think he had taken it this hard.

"You know how he is... He's just... bad at expressing himself. But he was there, Soren. He wouldn't have come if he didn't care, okay?"

"Whatever." Soren said weakly with a sniffle.

"He's so proud of you. We both are." Claudia went on.

"You always say so, I just want to hear it from him for once. I thought that finally... he would..." he trailed off, biting back more tears.

Claudia felt herself resign, feeling Soren's pain and disappointment like a punch in the gut. She brought him into a tight hug, "I know." She said understanding, stroking the back of his head when he returned the hug. Soren tucked his face into her neck and she rubbed his back until his breathing began to steady, sighing hotly like a release of pressure.

"You smell awful," She added after a while, the harsh smell of alcohol and the pub overwriting his usual comforting scent. She felt his body vibrate with a small laugh.

"Sorry."

She withdrew and cupped his cheek, "C'mon, lets get home before Dad notices we're gone." Soren nodded and she slung his arm over her shoulders again to support him on their trek back.

They made it back in without much fuss, though Claudia had to make a few cutesy gestures at the castle guards to signal that everything was fine and they didn't need to stir up a fuss thinking Soren was injured or something. Once in Soren's room Claudia helped him out of his armor, and once free of it he flopped backwards onto his bed with an exhausted sigh. He looked like a rag doll and it made Claudia giggle before sitting on the edge of his bed and starting to stroke his hair.

"Did you at least have fun?" Claudia asked, hoping that his time tonight would be worth how sick he was going to feel in the morning.

"Hm. Yeah. It was fun." Soren said sleepily, leaning into her petting, "Woulda rather hung out with you though. Was just mad at Dad."

Claudia tried to hide the surge of happiness she felt at that statement, "It's okay. I'll just make you a special breakfast in the morning, sound good?"

Soren hummed, "Sounds perfect."

She stroked his hair once more before leaning forward to kiss his forehead, "Night, Sorbear. Love you."

In his half asleep state he reached for the hand in his hair and threaded his fingers through it, pulling it down to nuzzle against it, "Love you too, Clauds. So much." He sighed.

He was quickly asleep after that. Claudia made a mental note to check on him in the morning and blew out his candle, quietly walking out and shutting the door gently behind her.

She felt the tension in her body release once entering her own room, as well as a satisfied accomplished feeling at how she had handled things. If Soren had been brought back to the castle by a loud rowdy group of drunk men, or even worse passed out in an alley somewhere, he would have definitely gotten into a ton of trouble. But she took care of him like she always did, and always would. She shut the book on her desk having now lost interest and slotted it into her small library. She stood in front of her books for a moment and thought before fingering out one of her spellbooks. She wondered if there was anything she could add to the breakfast, perhaps a drink, that could help with hangovers.

She brought the book to her desk chanting a short incantation that made the nearly-out candle there reform as she began to flip through the pages.


End file.
